Apple CEO Tim Cook says he is bullish on India; plans to set up retail stores soon

Apple CEO Tim Cook: I am big believer in India.

Apple announced its fourth quarter earnings for fiscal 2018, where it delivered record results from iPhone, services and wearables division. The Cupertino-based company announced revenues of $62.9 billion, and sold 46.9 million iPhone during the fourth quarter. The biggest takeaways from the quarter results were that a large part of Apple’s revenue comes from iPhone sales, but its services division is setting new records every quarter.

While Apple did announce record results, it also shared that it will stop sharing sales number of iPhone, iPad and Mac starting next quarter. While Apple missed out on talking about India last quarter, CEO Tim Cook had a lot to say about the company’s India plans. The most notable message came during the earnings call where Cook revealed that it is looking to set up retail stores and expand local manufacturing in India.

In a reply to question from analyst Jim Suva of Citigroup Global Markets, Inc, Cook said, “We’ve had really great productive discussions with the Indian government, and I fully expect that at some point, they will agree to allow us to bring our stores into the country.”

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Cook also shared concerns for his company around import duties on key Apple products, and he said that it is an area where the company is sharing feedback with the Indian government. “I am very bullish on the country and the people and our ability to do well there,” Cook reiterated during the earnings call. Cook said that the local manufacturing project has gone well and he is a big believer in India.

Cook however also revealed that the business in India was flat during the fourth quarter. “The emerging markets that we’re seeing pressure in are markets like Turkey, India, Brazil, Russia. These are markets where currencies have weakened over the recent period. In some cases, that resulted in us raising prices and those markets are not growing the way we would like to see.,” he added.

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Apple is estimated to have a market share of just around 1 percent in India, a market which continues to grow in double digits. With sales cooling off in markets like China, Apple is looking to reach out to India consumers but its efforts have not resulted in huge dividends so far.